diff --git a/mozilla/mailnews/imap/resources/locale/en-US/imapMsgs.properties b/mozilla/mailnews/imap/resources/locale/en-US/imapMsgs.properties
index 09ff83d2b40..e5b1db121d7 100644
--- a/mozilla/mailnews/imap/resources/locale/en-US/imapMsgs.properties
+++ b/mozilla/mailnews/imap/resources/locale/en-US/imapMsgs.properties
@@ -396,3 +396,9 @@
 # LOCALIZATION NOTE (autoSubscribeText): %1$S is the imap folder.
 5092=Would you like to subscribe to %1$S?
 
+## @name IMAP_SERVER_DROPPED_CONNECTION
+## @loc None
+5093=Unable to connect to your IMAP server. You may have exceeded the maximum number \
+of connections to this server. If so, use the Advanced IMAP Server Settings dialog to \
+reduce the number of cached connections.
+
diff --git a/mozilla/mailnews/imap/src/nsImapProtocol.cpp b/mozilla/mailnews/imap/src/nsImapProtocol.cpp
index 70e996ca9dd..ef5e37f4f22 100644
--- a/mozilla/mailnews/imap/src/nsImapProtocol.cpp
+++ b/mozilla/mailnews/imap/src/nsImapProtocol.cpp
@@ -1342,21 +1342,24 @@ NS_IMETHODIMP nsImapProtocol::OnStopRequest(nsIRequest *request, nsISupports *ct
     {
         case NS_ERROR_UNKNOWN_HOST:
             AlertUserEventUsingId(IMAP_UNKNOWN_HOST_ERROR);
-            killThread = PR_TRUE;
             break;
         case NS_ERROR_CONNECTION_REFUSED:
             AlertUserEventUsingId(IMAP_CONNECTION_REFUSED_ERROR);
-            killThread = PR_TRUE;
             break;
         case NS_ERROR_NET_TIMEOUT:
             AlertUserEventUsingId(IMAP_NET_TIMEOUT_ERROR);
-            killThread = PR_TRUE;
             break;
         default:
             break;
     }
 
   }
+  // if aStatus is successful, but we never saw a greeting, the server
+  // must have dropped us while establishing the connection.
+  else if (! (m_flags & IMAP_RECEIVED_GREETING))
+  {
+    AlertUserEventUsingId(IMAP_SERVER_DROPPED_CONNECTION);
+  }
 
   PR_CEnterMonitor(this);
   mAsyncReadRequest = nsnull; // don't need to cache this anymore, it's going away
diff --git a/mozilla/mailnews/imap/src/nsImapStringBundle.h b/mozilla/mailnews/imap/src/nsImapStringBundle.h
index 1407e510d94..171f219aafd 100644
--- a/mozilla/mailnews/imap/src/nsImapStringBundle.h
+++ b/mozilla/mailnews/imap/src/nsImapStringBundle.h
@@ -128,4 +128,5 @@ NS_END_EXTERN_C
 #define IMAP_SERVER_DISCONNECTED                    5090
 #define IMAP_REDIRECT_LOGIN_FAILED                  5091
 #define IMAP_SUBSCRIBE_PROMPT                       5092
+#define IMAP_SERVER_DROPPED_CONNECTION              5093
 #endif /* _nsImapStringBundle_H__ */